Has Sarah Palin Worn Out Her GOP Presidential Welcome?

If it’s possible to wear out your welcome in politics, you can wear out your welcome mat, too.

Sarah Palin’s protracted flirtations with a presidential run took her to Iowa this weekend. She attacked President Obama, took at shot at what she called the “permanent political class,” and even outlined a tax plan she said was designed to revive American hiring.

She even did what every politician does — profess not to care about what polls say — with a Palin twist:

But Palin did not declare a candidacy, of course. She didn’t rule it out, either — but that part has less potential relevance as the Republican field evolves without her.

In a Fox News poll taken last week, a startling 72 percent of Republicans said they don’t want Palin to run for president. Among self-described conservatives, 71 percent say they don’t want a Palin candidacy in 2012; that figure is 62 percent among those who consider themselves tea partiers.

Has she worn out the welcome mat? When she resigned as Governor of Alaska, most of her supporters, including me, thought that this would be a setup to repair her media trashed reputation in advance of a presidential run. But, here we are, a little over one year from the general election, and near to when one must declare for the South Carolina primary, and no announcement. As I’ve tweeted multiple times, it’s well past time for her to sh*t or get off the pot. She’s spent so much time attempting to tweak the media’s noses, playing with them as a cat plays with a mouse, playing the “will she or won’t she game”, that she has seemingly forgotten that there are people who support her and just Want To Know.

Her time for jumping in was back during the Spring. We’re now in September, and Palin is still playing the game, leaving her supporters hung out to dry, hence the Fox News poll mentioned above. It was fun watching her play the media like a violin, but, alas, it has ended up hurting her chances. Consider Mitt Romney: you knew from the moment the 2008 elections were over that Mitt was planning to run in 2012. What’s Palin doing? Anybody? In politics, timing is everything. Personally, I think she’s waited too damned long.